Have Heart, My Dear
by golden.rebels
Summary: "Believe me, Alex. I get it. Your mutation might be physically harmful, but I promise you it isn't the only one that can cause harm." She met his blue pools and looked right into them. Right into him. "You're not a criminal, Alex. Get out of that mindset." Havok/OC X:Men:First Class
1. Eden Sherbrook

Have Heart, My Dear

"_There lurks, perhaps, in every human heart a desire of distinction, which inclines every man first to hope, and then to believe, that Nature has given him something peculiar to himself. _

_-Samuel Johnson_

"Check out the freak," Reggie Payne, a rather large seventh grader exclaimed. His beady little eyes were locked into the frame of a girl a few years younger than himself, watching as she carefully made her way out of the schoolyard. Her big grey eyes widened at his words, but she didn't dare say a word to him. "Quit lookin' at me, weird girl!" he yelled, causing chuckles to erupt from all around them.

Almost immediately, the little girl fixed her eyes down to the ground below her and frowned. _I wasn't looking at you_, she wanted to say,_ just leave me alone!_

"My pa said that she has no momma," another kid mused, his golden eyes twinkling obnoxiously, "ain't no poppa, either." Another roar of laughter sounded around the little girl as she sat herself down on the stairs in front of the school house.

"That true, weird girl?" Reggie asked, egging the tiny little girl on. "Shoot! Even her folks thinks she's a freak!"

The little girl with eyes much too big for her heart-shaped face looked up at the group. Fat tears dared to escape her, but none seemed to fall. Not yet, anyway. "You shut-up, Reggie!" she grumbled, her quiet voice cracked from the sob she had in her throat.

The boys all laughed at her, the girls all looked on at the situation quietly. There had always been talk about little Eden Sherbrook. Or, as they liked to call her - the little girl with the 'shakes'.

"What are you gonna do if I don't?" Reggie questioned, stepping a little closer to the young girl. "You gonna start cryin'?" he laughed at his own joke and crossed his arms over his round tummy. "You gonna start shakin'?"

Eden blinked, letting a few tears fall down her rosy cheeks. "Leave me alone, Reggie Payne!" she said again, only this time her voice was louder. It was loud, but it lacked conviction, feeling. "Or I'll tell on you!"

He took another step closer to her and grinned maliciously down at her. "Who ya goin' to tell, little Eden?" he reached forward and yanked one of her braids rather roughly, taking his taunting to another level completely. "You gonna' to tell your momma? Your pops?" he tugged at the other braid now, ignoring as she yelped in pain. "You got nobody to tell!"

"What's going on here?" Mrs. Eldridge, Eden's teacher, asked as she stepped out of the schoolhouse. "Eden, Mr. Payne what—"

"I told you to leave me alone!" Eden finally screamed, pushing his hand away from her. She ignored Mrs. Eldridge completely and stood up to her full height, looking the bully right in the eye. "You ain't nothing but a _fat_," Reggie blinked, finding it increasingly harder to break their gaze as she stepped closer to him, "_ugly_," again, he tried to look away, but he could not. He was getting scared now, frightened over the tiny girls hold over him. All he wanted to do was push her, walk away from the girl – but he couldn't. He found himself listening to her words, taking them in; he suddenly _believed_ her words. "And _mean_ bully!"

"Eden Sherbrook!" Mrs. Eldridge cried out, shock radiating off of her every feature.

But neither child noticed; they were too wrapped up in Eden's words.

She saw the fear on his face, but her small hands were shaking in rage. Her entire body was trembling from the emotion pouring out of her; she was finally telling the school bully off. "You hear me? You're nothing but a bully, Reggie Payne!" Tears streamed down the boy's face as he took a step away from her. "I hope you," she clenched her fists at her side, thinking. "I hope you…well; I want you to just…_die!_"

In a blink, one blindingly fast second, their eye contact broke. Eden was shaking, breathlessly watching as Reggie stood there with silent tears streaming down his face. But, oddly enough, he didn't look scared anymore. Instead, every single person in the school yard watched as the young boy slowly nodded his head at her request. "Sure, Eden," he slowly said, giving her a lackadaisical smile. "Whatever you say."

The boy slowly began to walk away, not giving a second glance to either Eden or Mrs. Eldridge who stood with her mouth wide open. "Where are you going, Reginald?" she questioned, eyeing as he walked towards the road. "Your parents aren't here to pick you up yet, Reginald, and you _and_ Eden have _a lot_ of explaining to do!"

But her words did not faze the young boy. He simply continued to walk, as if he was in a daze, in his own little dream world.

Mrs. Eldridge began to grow antsy the closer he got to the road. "Reginald Payne," she huffed, following him out of the school yard. "You'll get back here this instant!" She watched as he opened the small gate with ease, and in that quick instance, her heart began to hammer anxiously. "Reggie!" she cried out, noticing as he got progressively closer to the busy road. "_Reggie!" _She broke out into a sprint within seconds, holding her skirt up to allow her more room to run.

But it was too late.

The screeching of tires echoed out around them before a chillingly loud _thump_ followed just after.

Mrs. Eldridge gasped, hand over her mouth in both shock and fear. "_No_!" she cried out, running the rest of the way to his now slumped over figure.

The rest of the kids in the school yard all ran towards the scene and the man driving the car hopped out of his station wagon with tears pouring down his face. "What have I done?" he questioned into the air, "what have I done?!"

Eden's trembling continued as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks at the scene she had just witnessed. Slowly, she walked over towards the road with the rest of her peers and instantly saw blood covering both Reggie and another male teacher who had run out of the school house the second he'd heard the accident.

The image of a soulless, bloody body burned into her naïve eyes and took any bit of innocence she had left out of her almost instantly. "Mrs. Eldridge," the second she spoke, it was as if a pin could be heard from around the schoolyard. "Is Reggie—"

Mrs. Eldridge turned around to face little Eden, but not an ounce of remorse could be seen on her features as she looked at the little girl in disdain. "Get away, Eden," her voice shook.

"But, Mrs. Eldridge, is Reggie—"

"I said get away you—you _freak!_" She finally broke.

Eden looked up at the teacher and felt an entirely new feeling begin to spread throughout her. She felt cold, alone – scared.

For the first time, in all the years she'd been taunted, Eden Sherbrook began to believe the words she'd always heard.

She felt like monster; Eden Sherbrook; the girl with the shakes – felt like a freak.

**A/N. Soooo, how many of you want to murder me right now? I'm betting there is a long list of Banshee fans out there not one hundred percent happy with my decision to turn this into an Alex/Eden story rather than a Sean/Eden centered fic. **

**I know this might not be what a lot of you want, and I am sorry for this but I want to thank every one of you who gave me feedback and any of you reading this right now. It means a lot.**

**There will be lots of changes coming up but obviously not much has changed in the first few chapters seeing as how it is still the same OC, the only thing that has changed is just who this OC is paired up with. **

**Don't forget to Review, loves! x**


	2. A Strange Proposal

_**Chapter Two: A Strange Proposal**_

Eden Sherbrook was all grown up now.

No longer the timid little girl she was years ago, she willed herself to become the young adult she was today. It took years for Eden to understand herself, to understand just how different she really was from the other girls, or even boys, her age.

But, after a while, she did. She _was_ different, she _was _unique, but at the end of the day, the same question always seemed to elude her. Just _what_ exactly was she?

She killed a boy, albeit by pure fluke, when she was only eight years old – who's to say she couldn't do that again? If all it took was a few simple words to push someone to that extreme, what was stopping her from doing it again?

There were only two things that Eden knew for sure.

She knew she could definitely sweet talk her way out of most situations, and she knew that whatever she was, whatever at all, she was most _definitely_ not a human being. Not by a long shot.

"We gonna do this, or what?" A man by the name of Gerry Keenan asked her, looking across the street from the safety of his Buick. "Or are you gonna bail ass on me again?"

Eden rolled her grey eyes and played with the fabric of her mini skirt. "I told you already, Gerry, I didn't bail on you. You told me to wait by the car and—"

"Shut-up, kid," the middle-aged man hissed, pushing her chest back so he had a clear view of the man across the street. "There he is."

_He_ was Andrew Wilkinson; possibly the richest man in Georgia.

He was a very fortunate man, but from her research, he was also a very kind man. Not greedy, not cheap, but sweet. Her stomach was in an uncomfortable knot just knowing this man was personable. She hated it when they were nice. "If I do this, you gotta swear that it's the last time." She looked over at Gerry and sighed. "People are already starting to get suspicious. I already left two separate states, I ain't to keen on doing that again."

Gerry slowly turned to face the young woman, raising his eyebrows in irritation. "Am I paying you, sugar?"

Eden's shoulders slumped forward. "Sure you are, but—"

"But nothin', so long as I'm handing out the big bucks, you'll do as you're told."

The blonde pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and glared out the window before her. "You hand those big bucks over, Gerry, because _I_ get 'em for you. Without me, you have no 'business'"

She used the term business lightly. What she was helping him do was the furthest thing from a legitimate business. It was fraud.

Gerry Keenan had found Eden almost five years ago hitchhiking from Tennessee to New York. Needless to say, when he got hold of her _talent_, New York was the last thing on his mind. He scored himself his own private little money tree who could grant him the riches in the world had she stuck out her pretty little lips, batted those long eyelashes.

He found himself a jackpot that stormy August night.

"Listen, kid," Eden cringed. Another vile thing about Gerry was the h never used her name. It was always kid or toots, sweetheart or sugar. But never her actual name. "Let's just get this show on the road, huh?" He lit up a cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the window. "Faster you get your pretty little ass out there, faster we get the money and move on."

Eden turned to face the poor man she was about to practically rob and frowned to herself. "Fine," she appeased, opening up her door angrily. "But this is the last time, Gerry. I swear I—"

"Go." Was all he said, giving her a knowing wink.

He knew she wouldn't leave. He, after all, was the closest thing she had to a family and he'd milk that for as long as he could.

"Bastard," she muttered under her breath as she began walking across the street. "Stupid, lazy bastard."

She touched down on the sidewalk much too quickly. Her stomach was still churning uncomfortably and, just like every other time, her hands were shaking nervously. She didn't know why she shook so much when she'd use whatever it was she had, but she always had.

She fell into step behind Mr. Wilkinson and she took this time to fully let her shakes take over. To an onlooker, she just looked a little chilled, but the shakes she could _feel_ inside of her were far worse than what she allowed to be seen. Her vision grew fuzzy for a few seconds, her mind hazy, she hated this part the most. It was like walking blindly into a situation that could end either very good, or very badly.

In a matter of seconds, her blurry vision disappeared and she could see clearly again. She breathed out a quiet sight of relief and cracked her fingers; a nervous habit. Finally, she was ready.

"Excuse me, sir?"

But he did not turn around. He stopped, as had most people around her, but he did not turn around to face her. She blinked in confusion and cleared her throat. _Maybe he didn't hear me?_

"Excuse me, sir?" she repeated.

Nothing. No response.

She took a quick look around her only to see that in fact _nothing_ was moving. No cars honked down the busy street, no passerby's strolled passed them – it was as if she was stuck in an ugly painting. Only still life surrounded her.

_Do not be afraid_.

She jumped at the sudden disruption and turned on her heel to see just who was talking to her. Not a single person was around. "What the hell?" she found herself asking, confusion and fear dripping from her tone.

_You do not have to do this, Eden. You are not alone in this. You are not the only one with these abilities._

She was absolutely panicked now.

_Meet me at the fountain on Third Street in five minutes; I'll explain everything._

The second those words escaped his lips, a breath of life blew into the small Georgian town. Cars honked, people spoke – Andrew Wilkinson walked on.

What in God's name had just happened?

Before she could think of doing her intended job, she stepped forward and poked the stout's man shoulder. Andrew Wilkinson turned to face her, a friendly smile playing on his easygoing face. "Yes, dear?"

"Sorry to bother you, sir, but would you happen to know where Third Street is?"

Not five minutes later, Eden found herself standing in front of a rather large water fountain. It was a busy enough place, buzzing with people of all ages, but all she could look for was the man she'd heard moments before.

"Eden Sherbrook?"

She turned on her heel almost instantly only to be met with two men maybe five to seven years older than herself. The shorter of the two, wore a friendly smile on his face, his blue eyes glued to her trembling frame. "There's no need to be afraid," the way he spoke was almost melodic, so easy to listen to. He sounded very assured but empathetic at the same time. He sounded kind. "You are among friends."

"How were you in my head?" was her first question, watching as the two men closed the gap between them. "Who are you?"

Again, it was the shorter of the two men who stuck his hand out first. "Charles Xavier," he introduced himself, watching as she hesitantly shook his hand before looking across at his dear friend.

"Erik Lensherr," Erik told her, shaking the young woman's hand as well.

Eden blinked. "So that answers one of my questions," she said, looking pointedly at the two unfamiliar men. "On to the second one now; how were you in my head?" she repeated.

The two men exchanged glances and Eden suddenly found herself a little anxious. Not only had she followed a voice in her head to a fountain to find two men waiting for her, but she knew Gerry would be looking for her soon. And boy oh boy would he be mad.

"How much do you know about your mutation, Eden?"

Her _mutation_? She always knew she was different, but _mutation_ just sounded awful! "My _what_?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest in slight outrage. "I don't know what you're—"

"Your mutation," Erik cut in, patient but firm. "There's no need to pretend with us."

"Pretend?" she questioned, taking a quick look over her shoulder to ensure no one was listening in. "I'm not pretending, I don't have a –"

The chain around her neck, the one her mother had given her as a child before she died, slowly began to float mid air. Instantly, she looked up to meet Erik's gaze only to see him drop his concentration, resulting in having the silver chain fall back onto her neck. "I'd move something bigger, but this is a little _too_ public for my liking."

Charles smirked kindly at Eden upon seeing the shock register on her face. "I-I," she broke off, flabbergasted. "I mean, I never actually…" she swallowed hard and could feel her hands begin to shake. She was treading thin waters now; a slip of the tongue and Lord knows what would end up happening. "I thought I was the only one…" she finally said, trembling like a leaf.

"Oh, no," Charles told her, beaming at her happily. "There are hundreds of us; thousands maybe. But I came to _you_ in particular for a reason."

Eden blinked. "You need me for something." It wasn't a question, but rather a somewhat bitter remark. She scoffed and pushed her long hair away from her face. "I should have known. You'd come find the convincing _freak_ when you need help with something."

Both men watched as any hope the young woman had in them slowly dwindled down to bare minimum. "You have every right to refuse us, Eden," Charles told her, "but you are among friends, now. You are special, a _mutant_, and you have an extraordinary talent. Whether you decide to come with us or not, an astonishing talent such as yours should not be wasted on something as tactless as fraud."

She looked like a guilty little child caught in the act. "I only helped Gerry because—" Charles cut her off, his friendly smile back on his face.

"You need not explain, friend." He looked at Erik and nodded slightly towards the black Buick creeping up across the street. "But I must ask you to make a rather hasty decision. Ensure that the decision is all yours, though. Not Erik's or my own, and certainly not Mr. Keenan's," his blue eyes looked behind Eden and watched as the man slowly got out of the car, an angry expression on his face. "But all your own."

Eden slowly looked back and saw Gerry fuming mad. He was actually red in the face, he was so angry. Then, she turned back around to face the peculiar men before her. They looked patient.

"You said there were more of us?" she asked somewhat hesitantly, ignoring the gentle breeze that blew past them. "Have you recruited any others?"

Both men slowly nodded.

Eden took a small breath of air into her lungs. The idea of being around other people with abilities like her own sounded amazing, unbelievable. The idea of going back to Gerry after hearing promises of that sounded ridiculous. So, with one final glance at Gerry, her mind was made up.

"When do we leave?"

Erik grinned, clapping Charles on the back as he, too, smiled across at Eden. "Right after this," Charles vowed before walking over towards Gerry.

"Who the hell are you?" Gerry asked Charles, looking over his shoulder towards Erik and Eden. "That's my daughter," he lied, "what do you think you—"

Charles fixated on the man before him and gently pressed a finger to his temple. "You've never even heard of Eden Sherbrook; you should go home."

The man blinked, in a second his anger had washed away. "I should probably go home." The man simply said before walking off towards the Buick yet again.

When Charles came back to Erik and Eden, Eden's wide grey eyes caught his attention. "Not even a flinch on his part? He didn't even look angry with you!"

Charles smirked knowingly at Erik before placing a warm hand on Eden's shoulders. "You have your tricks," he said with a quiet laugh, "we have ours."


	3. Mutants

_**Chapter Three: Mutants**_

"So you see, Eden," Charles looked across at Eden carefully, "for every mutant alive to date, there's a different genetic gene in them making them different from the rest. Of course, there are other telepath's like myself, possibly even some other mutants with your abilities, but the power of their mutation varies."

Her brows were creased together, listening intently to the man's words. She'd gone nearly two decades without knowing anything about herself or if there were others out there and suddenly here she was, getting a lesson on genetic mutation.

"So you all knew what you could do from a very early age," she said slowly as they flew to a secret government base in Virginia. "But I don't know _what_ I can do." She confessed, eyeing Charles in desperation. "I mean, I don't know how to control it, I don't know what to do with it…I don't know what _it_ really even is."

Erik looked across at his friend and gave him a knowing look. He was suggesting he go into her head, maybe decipher her abilities at an easier pace for all three of them; but he knew Charles better than that. Sure, he _could_ just waltz on into this girl's head, see everything she has seen over the years, but Charles was just as desperate to learn about her abilities as Eden was to hear what he had to say about them.

Charles leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You've had a very easy time convincing people to do things over the years, correct?" She nodded sheepishly. "Try it on us."

"What?" her eyes were wide. "I can't do that," she mumbled, "that's…awkward."

Erik bit back a laugh and Charles simply grinned. "It _can_ be an innocent request. We don't have to delve right into fraud and nudity."

Eden blushed and looked down at her lap, twiddling her thumbs anxiously. "What do you want me to ask?"

"Anything you want." Erik cut in. "After all, if you have the ability to attain anything you wish by a simple request," she looked up from her lap towards Erik, "the possibilities are endless."

She kept his gaze for the longest time before finally looking back down at her lap. "Give me a second," she whispered, focusing on her hands. She could feel the prickling beneath her fingertips begin to tingle, like the sensation you get just before sneezing.

The men watched in fascination as the woman before them began to shake. It started with her hands, eventually cascading up her arms and down her torso. It was a very subtle case of the shivers, but they still couldn't look away. Finally, they watched as her grey eyes looked up; she was ready. "Charles," she began, leaning closer to him to ensure she kept his eye contact, "I would like it _very_ much if you could pass me that handkerchief over there."

Charles felt no obligation to reach beside him and hand her the red handkerchief. Not a single pull towards it whatsoever. However, the longer that she kept her eye contact; he felt a familiar tingling behind his eyes, shooting through his skull at alarming speeds. In a flash he could feel his telepathy prodding inside of him, he could see bits and pieces of her past; a boy, blood – and then it shot to another time with her and Gerry committing fraud outside of a restaurant. He was getting little bits and pieces here and there, but he hadn't been trying whatsoever to see inside of this woman's head.

He willed himself with all his might to pull away his gaze and finally he managed to. Breathless and somewhat shaky, he fell back into his seat, tiny beads of sweat forming along his brow.

Eden on the other hand was frowning in displeasure, eyeing the handkerchief like it was a scene of a terrible accident. "You didn't give me the handkerchief." She pointed out, astonished.

Erik looked at Charles and furled his brows curiously. "You look like you've seen a ghost," he commented, taking in Charles' confused expression. "What happened?"

But Charles' eyes remained on Eden. "That's remarkable." He commented, sitting back up to look at her properly. "How were you managing to do that?"

"I didn't _do_ anything," she looked across at the handkerchief, still in its original place. "Clearly."

"No," Charles fought, "you most definitely did, Eden." He looked at Erik and shook his head, trying to explain his experience. "I could see inside of her head," he looked back at Eden, "and I wasn't even trying to. You," he paused, "somehow you've managed to interfere with my telepathy. You strengthened it when you were looking into my eyes."

"So," Eden started, slowly and quietly, "what does that mean? I can't influence you?"

"No," Charles said, "not me, per se." He grinned and let a pleased laugh escape his lips. "But you manipulated _something_ inside of my head!" He sat back in his seat and slowly shook his head. "You're empathic, that much I know" he mused, "but I've not a clue as to which kind."

"Empathic?" her brows furrowed and she found herself leaning towards the two men again. "Like, as in empathetic?" She watched Charles nod, but she didn't look impressed. "But doesn't that mean I should be able to _feel_ whatever you're feeling, too?"

Erik's eyebrow shot up curiously. "You don't?"

Eden shook her head. "No, never have. It's the opposite, really. It's just…void when I'm trying to influence somebody."

"Perhaps that's because you've never _actually_ tried to influence anybody." The wheels in Charles' head were spinning and boy, were the spinning fast. He always loved delving into the study of mutants and the opportunity he was having with the group of young mutants he was able to gather so far was so promising. He was not only teaching, something he really truly did love, but he was learning, too.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked him.

Charles simply dropped his shoulders but kept her stare. "I'm not quite sure just yet."

* * *

><p>The CIA base was massive.<p>

She'd never seen a building so big. There were statues of important figures over the course of American history around every corner, and she'd never seen such strange architecture in her life. It was a very open concept theme, something straight out of those corny flicks she'd seen advertised at the double feature.

It was strange being in a place so secretive and vast but, as she followed Erik and Charles inside the base, she couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. She was needed for something and it wasn't to get some old man a bundle of money, they needed _her_ for the CIA. She almost laughed at the thought alone.

"So, you're sure I can actually help out?" she whispered, not wanting to attract anymore attention from the agents or guards watching their every move. "I mean, I don't know how to fire a gun or anything…"

Charles laughed and looked at Eden. "We're not going to send you out on the field with a badge and a gun; there's no mutant force quite yet." He joked, winking at her playfully. "But yes, believe it or not you and the others are going to help out quite a lot. I assure you."

"Charles!"

Eden looked up only to see the voice was coming from a pretty blonde woman around her age. She watched as the girl embraced Charles, the two of them grinning cheekily at one another.

"I thought I told you to stay with the others?" the way he spoke to the blonde wasn't condescending, but instead almost teasing; like a big brother would to his sister.

She nudged him gently and shook her head. "And I told _you_ that I'm not that easy to tame, am I?" She looked across at Eden and instantly smiled at her. "Is she one of us?"

_One of us_. Eden could get used to the sound of that; the promise of familiar company.

"She certainly is," Charles said, swinging his arm around the blonde's shoulders. "Eden, this is my sister Raven. Raven, this is Eden Sherbrook."

Eden grinned at the blonde. "Nice to meet you, Raven."

"Eden, huh?" Raven asked, a slow smile began to tug up the corners of her lips. "That's a strange name."

Eden laughed quietly. "Tell me about it; then again, I've never met a Raven, either."

Raven's slow smile enveloped into a full out grin as she turned to look at Charles. "I like her." She decided before walking over towards Eden. The four of them fell into step with one another; Eden and Raven ahead of Erik and Charles. "So," Raven began, "what can you do?"

Eden thought for a moment before she slowly shook her head. "That's a good question," she admitted somewhat sheepishly, "I couldn't really tell you."

Raven looked at her in perplexity. "What do you mean?"

"She's Empathic," Erik cut in, listening in on the girls' conversation. "Or so Charles thinks."

Raven looked back at Erik before turning her attention back to Eden. "You can feel things or something?"

"Not quite," she looked around and shrugged, "I don't know. I can manipulate regular people by influencing them and I can manipulate our kind by tapping into their abilities." She rhymed off, remembering Charles' words. "Or so your brother thinks."

Raven nodded, trying to disguise the pang of jealousy she felt towards Eden for not having a physical mutation. "That's pretty cool," she confessed. She could tell Eden was still a little iffy about her ability so instead of dwelling on the subject she leaned in closer to the girl and laughed quietly. "We'll have to use that gift of yours to score us some decent food in this place. Work your magic on those guards, how does that sound?"

Eden beamed at the blonde. "Oh, I think we have ourselves a deal."

"Fantastic!" Raven exclaimed.

"Raven will you show Eden to the common area?" Charles asked. "Moira wanted to have a small debriefing on you all and Erik and I are already running a bit late."

Raven nodded. "Sure," she looked at Eden and winked; now would be the ideal time to work her magic on getting some food. "Be safe."

Charles smiled kindly at the two girls before looking at Raven in particular. "Always am. Watch over things, will you?"

She swatted him away and gave him her best smile. "Always do."

Both girls watched the two men walk away. Eden suddenly felt a little nervous; she'd gotten used to Erik and Charles, but here she was about to meet a group of people just like herself all on her own. It was like the first day of school all over again.

"So where you from?" Raven asked, walking towards the main room where the everyone else was being held.

"I was born in Texas, but I've been everywhere else since I was about eight." _Since the accident_, was what she really should have said, but she would never admit to that out loud. She wouldn't be able to handle the looks she'd get if people knew. "What about you?"

Raven looked ahead and let a somewhat forged, sardonic laugh escape her lips. "You know it's funny, and probably pretty sick, but I don't remember." She admitted with a small shrug. Eden looked at Raven to elaborate. "I ran away a lot as a kid," she told her, "my parents weren't too keen on having a mutant, you know?" Eden nodded in understanding. "So, I kept running. Eventually I found Charles, and he took me in."

Neither girl said a word after that for the remainder of the short walk to the room. It wasn't until Raven stopped her walking and hesitated in front of a door that Raven's smile made an appearance again. "Ready to meet the rest of the elite team of Special Mutant Forces?" she joked, beaming across at her new friend.

Eden smirked and pushed her blonde hair back and away from her face. "Ready as I'll ever be, Detective Raven."

Raven let out a wicked laugh before finally pushing open the door. The room, Eden noticed, was incredibly normal. A sleek leather couch with two accompanying chairs with a coffee table in between was the first thing she noticed, and then the jukebox and arcade games located just off to the side. She felt rather foolish assuming things would look a lot different, but was pleased to find that she wasn't stepping foot into some strange dimension.

"Guys," Raven announced, watching as the rest of the young adults lounged around, all looking considerably bored. "Meet the last member of our little clan."

Eden had grown out of her shy shell at an early age, but seeing five sets of eyes solely on her was enough to put her on edge. "Eden," she introduced herself with a small smile.

Darwin was the first to stand. He reached forward and took the new girls hand politely, giving her a smile. "Darwin." The handsome man said before turning his attention to the rest of the group. "And this is Angel," he pointed to a small mixed-looking girl with thin tattoos running down her arms. "Alex," the blonde guy sitting on the couch gave her a small, somewhat tight smile. "And Hank," a tall guy with glasses gave her a shy lop-sided smile and waved.

"Nice to meet you all," she said, giving them all a tiny smile.

"Wasn't there another guy?" Raven asked, confusion oozing from her tone. "Tall, red-headed guy?"

"He went looking for some food," Alex explained. "We're all starving."

As if on cue, a tall red-head walked into the room holding a small case of Coke. The glass clanked together as he kicked the door shut behind him. "All they gave me was some liquid fuel," he said, not bothering to look up from the case in his arms. "I told them we were hungry but they said we had to wait until scheduled meal-time." He shook his head, placing the crate in the middle of the coffee table. "I did manage to smuggle some cards outta the deal, though."

Darwin cleared his throat, watching the redhead in amusement. "Eden, Sean," he finally said, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Sean, Eden."

Sean's head perked up towards Darwin only to finally see what everyone had fallen silent about. "Oh," he simply said. "Nice to meet ya, new girl." He winked across at her and took a quick seat on the chair facing the couch. "Up for a game of spoons?" he asked, lulling his head to the side to face the blonde. "You can sit right here." he told her, patting his lap playfully.

Alex gave out a low laugh as he began to deal the cards. "That'll scare her off." He muttered beneath his breath.

"Or," Eden suggested, taking a seat on the chair opposite him. "I could sit over here and kick your ass at spoons."

Raven and the others shared a laugh at Sean's expense, but he took it in stride. He smiled slowly and straightened out his posture. "You got yourself a deal, Newbie." He told her as he took a quick look at his cards.

**A/N SO, I know not a whole hell of a lot has changed in these last few chapters but I assure you after this chapter, the changes I've mad thus far will be more noticeable. I hope I haven't lost too many of you but to those reading now, thank you and please review! xxxx**


	4. Charm

_**Chapter four: Charm**_

The game continued on for two hours but neither really wanted to it to continue any longer.

Bored of the game and wanting it to end as soon as possible, Sean looked up from his deck of cards and slid Alex's card to Eden without even a glance. Neither she or Alex truly looked all that interested in the game anymore but as their eyes lazily floated over their hand, he looked at the new girl for a second longer than he should have.

He watched as she took the card without meeting his gaze, her grey eyes barely skimmed over it before handing it off to Darwin. Again, Sean let another card float right passed him, handing it off to Eden a little slower this time around.

He made sure that he only passed the card halfway across the table towards her so she had to reach for it. To anyone else it would have been nothing more than a lazy gesture, but he knew better. The second she reached forward, he got the money shot. A lazy but subtle grin began to pull his lips up as he got the briefest look down her top. _Score one for Sean Cassidy_, he thought, just before a quiet scoff broke him out of his daze.

"The objective of spoons is to get a spoon before everyone else, you know that right?" His head snapped up only to see Raven was looking at him with a knowing smirk. He took a quick look around the semi-circle and noticed every single person was holding a spoon in their hands, looking near-death from the boredom plaguing them.

He dramatically threw his cards back on the table and leaned back in his chair. "We're in a government building – the CIA need our help – and we're playing spoons." He took a look around at everyone and sat up a little straighter, smiling bashfully at each person. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm dying to know what you guys can do." He eyed the three girls in particular and wriggled his eyebrows. "Especially you three."

Raven rolled her eyes. "He's right," she said. "We technically _are_ part of the CIA now, aren't we?" A mischievous grin broke out across her lips. "We should come up with code names; I mean, what government agent doesn't have a codename?"

Each person fell into silence, thinking about what they should be called before Raven spoke up. "I wanna be called Mystique."

"Damn," Sean muttered, playfully looking around the room. "I wanted to be called Mystique!"

"Well, too bad. I called it." She looked at Sean and cocked up an eyebrow. "Besides," within seconds, little blue prickly scales began to trickle down her body. Before their eyes, Raven's gorgeous blonde hair morphed into a shaggy red 'do and her feminine features turned into the spitting image of Sean Cassidy. "I'm much more mysterious than you."

"Oh my God," Angel muttered with her eyes wide open.

"Holy shit," Alex laughed.

Eden remained silent, but her grin was bigger than ever. To be among her kind – God, was it glorious. She finally looked across at Sean only to see he'd backed up in his chair, slack-jawed. She laughed even harder at his expression upon watching as she morphed back into Raven.

Raven looked at Angel. "What about you?"

Angel smirked slightly and stood up, taking off her leather jacket. Sean whistled, but she ignored him completely. "My stage name is Angel." She said and Eden watched as the thin tattoos all up the girl's arm slowly trickled off of her skin, stretching into an almost pixie-like wing.

"You can fly?!" Raven asked in shock.

"Mhmm," Angel said, allowing her wings to take full control. "I can also do this." She shut her mouth for a moment before turning to face a nearby wall. In a flash, a little ball of what looked to be fiery acid shot out of her mouth, burning the wall instantly.

"What would your name be?" Angel asked Darwin, taking her seat yet again as she slid on her jacket.

Darwin shrugged. "Darwin's always been a nickname, so I guess I'd stick to Darwin."

Eden looked at him sheepishly, not completely understanding his nickname. "Why? What can you do?"

He looked at her, grinning. "Adapt to survive." He told her, standing up to walk over to the fish tank. She watched in amazement as the man dipped his head into the water only to grow gills on the side of his face.

"That's amazing." Eden gushed, eyes wide as quarters. She couldn't get over all of it; being around her kind was just too good to be true.

"What about you?" Eden looked to her right towards Alex only to see he was looking at her. "What can you do?"

Eden looked across the table towards Raven and Hank. Hank was looking at her enquiringly but Raven was grinning at her intentionally. Eden returned a small smile before looking around her. "You guys still hungry?" she asked, standing up to her full height.

"Starving!"

"Yes!"

"You can make food appear?"

That last one was from a teasing Sean.

Eden smiled slightly and shrugged. "Something like that," she muttered before walking over towards the large window overlooking the courtyard of the building. She began to knock on the window, waiting for a guard to appear. "Excuse me?" she said, loud enough for them to hear her through the glass.

She could feel all eyes on her as a guard finally approached the window. "What?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"Can you come in here for a second? Something happened." She lied, smiling up at him innocently.

He didn't look pleased by her question at all, but he _was_ told to look after them. "Fine." He spoke bitterly before walking towards the main door.

"That's the same guy I spoke to about food," Sean told her, but she barely heard him. "He's not budging, believe me."

"Shut-up and watch." Raven told him, looking back to Eden carefully. She watched as Eden looked down in deep thought for just a moment before her hands began to tremble.

Every person in the room watched as the girl's trembling overtook her body; her hands, her arms, even the pupils in her eyes were quivering. But then, as fast as it had happened, it was over.

Just as a knock sounded from the door.

"Come in," she said.

The door opened up only to reveal the same man as before. He looked absolutely livid for even having to come into the room with all of the _freaks_ inside of it. "What is it?" She walked over to him, feeling all eyes on her as she slowly looked up at his face. The guard was not impressed. "What? What is your superpower being deaf? What do you want?"

Eden smirked but remained patient. "Sir?" she said, capturing his gaze rather quickly. _This was going to be easy. _

They watched his body language change completely in a matter of seconds. His tense shoulders slouched forward, his hardened jaw unlocked. Even his eyes, his cold brown eyes, seemed to glaze over as he looked down at Eden. "Yeah?" he spoke much quieter this time around, like he was suddenly hanging off of her every word.

"We're _very_ hungry, sir."

"You are?" he sounded completely stunned, appalled.

She nodded, holding his gaze. "Starving." She told him. "You feel bad, don't you?" The man nodded, not standing a chance against the girl's ability. "You said no to one of us already, that wasn't very nice." She was toying with his head now, but she didn't feel very guilty about it.

"I'm sorry," the man mumbled, "I was under orders."

"That's no excuse, is it?"

He looked ashamed. "No, it isn't."

Eden cracked a tiny grin, hearing the others chuckle at his attachment towards her. "You think you should make it up to us."

Hank took note of her words, his eyebrows pulling together instantly. She wasn't telling him what to do, but rather what he should be feeling. Whether she did it consciously or not, he did not know.

"I should."

She nodded once again. "You think you should get to it? We want everything you can bring us in under ten minutes."

The man smiled in a daze. "Okay. I'll be right back." He turned on his heel rather quickly, leaving the younger mutants by themselves once again.

A low whistle escaped from Sean's lips just as the others began to clap. "You think he'll actually go through with it?" Alex asked, watching Eden take her seat yet again.

She looked up at him and shrugged. "They always do."

"So what was that back there?" Angel asked her, her eyebrows creased. "You can hypnotize people or something?"

All Eden did was shrug before looking to her right at the familiar redhead. "What about you? What do you want your name to be?"

He looked thoughtful for a few seconds before a lazy grin broke out across his lips. "I wanna be called Banshee."

Hank's brows furrowed. "Why would you want to be named after a wailing spirit?"

As if he were waiting to be asked that question, Sean grinned and swung himself out of his seat. "Might want to plug your ears." He warned them all. He waited for everyone to plug their ears before breathing in as much air around him as possible. He could feel the familiar sensation of his lungs expanding to the point where it almost hurt to breathe in anymore air before he looked up at the large window overlooking the courtyard.

As if on cue, Sean released the bundle of air he'd been holding. A loud _screech_ echoed out around the tiny room, vibrating against the walls instantly before hitting its prime target; the bay window. As soon as the high pitched noise hit the window it stood no chance, and he watched as it shattered to the ground.

Eden unplugged her ears and watched as he stood back up to his full height. She had to admit for a quirky pervert that _was_ impressive.

After a round of applause, Sean took his seat beside Alex who slowly looked up to peer at Hank. "I guess there's no use asking what you can do, huh?" Hank's smile fell in realization but Alex kept going. "We should call you bigfoot!"

Raven's eyebrow perked up. "Well, you know what they say about guys with big feet," she looked down at Alex's feet, "and yours look kind of small."

Laughter broke out amongst the group. Even Alex couldn't hide his grin – until Darwin spoke up, of course.

"What about you, Alex?" he asked him. "What can you do?"

The smile on Alex's face disappeared almost instantly. "I can't…" he mumbled seriously, "it's too dangerous. I can't do it in here."

"Oh come on," Raven urged. "We showed you all of ours."

"Yeah, I mean Bozo the Clown over here could have popped all our eardrums," Eden motioned to Sean, sending him a small, playful smile in his direction to ensure he understood it was a joke. "But we're still standing."

Alex tried for a smile but Eden could see just how mangled it was. He was afraid. "No, I—"

"Alex, Alex, _Alex, Alex!"_ They all began to chant, egging him on. "C'mon!"

Alex, never a man to walk away from a challenge, sat up irritably and walked through the shattered window. "If any of you get hurt, just remember I warned you." He called out from over his shoulder.

Eden and the others instantly stood up and rushed towards the window. Alex noticed them all peak out from behind the wall and rolled his eyes. "Get back." He warned them, his jaw clenching anxiously. They did as they were told for only a moment before reappearing. "I said get back!" He ordered, but no one listened this time around. He sighed and cracked his neck. "Whatever."

They all watched as Alex's hips began to swivel about, his entire torso eventually falling into a violent sway before a vibrant red glow emitted from his chest, shooting across the courtyard towards the young mutants before taking a right towards the statue overlooking the base.

His beams split the statue clear in half.

Each mutant stood completely stunned to silence before breaking out into applause. "Pretty impressive, Havok." Raven said, a large smile planted on her face.

Alex only gave her a tiny smile, looking over at the severed statue awkwardly. "Considering that could've been one of you, I didn't do too bad."

When they re-entered the room, they were met with a somewhat scared looking guard, bundles of snack food piled high in his arms. He looked at the scene before him, feeling his nerves bubble inside of him – that was until he saw the familiar grey gaze of Eden. As soon as the leggy blonde entered the room, his entire demeanour changed. "I brought the food."

"That was fast," she commented, walking over to retrieve the food. "Thank-you. You can go now." The man nodded and left in a hurry, looking confused and frightened as he did so.

Eden bit back a grin as she balanced the bags of junk food. "Hope you guys like potato chips."

Sean was at her side in an instant, grabbing the biggest bag of the four she'd been handed. He opened it right in front of her and shoved a couple in his mouth. He didn't say a word at first, only looked down at her in amusement before swallowing the food down. "Thanks, Charm." He simply said, slowly beginning to walk away from the blonde.

She blinked. "What?"

He turned around, walking backwards towards his chair before shooting her a grin. "You heard me." He told her, turning back around to plop himself down on the chair.

**A/N Hope you guys are liking it! Please review. :)**


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